1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of ornamentation worn by people to enhance and complement what they are wearing. In particular, the present invention relates to the field of interchangeable jewelry incorporated into wearing apparel, especially gloves, to enhance and compliment the glove as a fashion accessory.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The following 11 patents and published patent applications are the closest prior art known to the inventor.
1. U.S. Pat. No. 1,949,755 issued to John A. Mitchell on Mar. 6, 1934 for “Glove Ornament” (hereafter the “Mitchell Patent”);
2. U.S. Pat. No. 4,519,781 issued to Jeannette D. Boyd on May 28, 1985 for “Teaching Tool” (hereafter the “Boyd Patent”);
3. U.S. Pat. No. 4,847,917 issued to Murray Strongwater on Jul. 18, 1989 for “Glove Construction With Means for Removably Securing Accessories” (hereafter the “Strongwater Patent”);
4. U.S. Pat. No. 5,136,726 issued to Elizabeth Kellin et al. on Aug. 11, 1992 for “Stretchable Articles of Apparel with Detachable Decorative Elements” (hereafter the “Kellin Patent”);
5. U.S. Pat. No. 5,933,867 issued to Donald E. Corder on Aug. 10, 1999 for “Promotional Item Having Decorative Emblem and Method of Making Same” (hereafter the “Corder Patent”);
6. United States Published Patent Application No. 2006/0130210 to Paul Gait on Jun. 22, 2006 for “Glove with Interchangeable Padding” (hereafter the “Gait Published Patent Application”);
7. United States Published Patent Application No. 2007/0118964 to Lisa R. Sacco et al. on May 31, 2007 for “Glove Having an Attached Item of Jewelry” (hereafter the “Sacco Published Patent Application”);
8. U.S. Pat. No. 8,062,087 issued to Devyn Davis et al. on Nov. 22, 2011 for “Glove with Attached Doll” (hereafter the “Davis Patent”);
9. United States Published Patent Application No. 2012/0185996 to Lizabeth K. Goldberg et al. on Jul. 26, 2012 for “Golf Accessory Accenting System” (hereafter the “Goldberg Published Patent Application”);
10. UK Patent No. 223,429 issued to William George Heard on Oct. 23, 1924 for “Improvements in and Relating to Gloves” (hereafter the “Heard UK Patent”);
11. Japanese Patent No. JP09316714A issued to Hideo Hayakawa on Dec. 9, 1997 for “Glove” (hereafter the “Hayakawa Japanese Patent”).
The Mitchell Patent discloses:                “As stated, my invention comprises a glove having fingers 18, a ring top 14, or other ornament and means 16 to secure preferably detachably said ring top or other ornament to the glove finger 18.”        
In this device they claim to have a female fastener member secured to the glove which is best depicted in FIG. 11 showing two openings 64 by which it is inserted through the glove. It appears that the way this system works is the male of the ring is inserted and grasped by the ends of the female fastener. However, referring to the patent text, the patent states:                “A separable fastener usually includes a pointed male member which is adapted to slide or slip into and be retained in position by a female member. In the embodiments shown, the male member 26 may be attached to the ring top and the female member 28 may be attached to the glove or vice versa.”        
This patent involves 1932 technology and there is room far improvement to be certain that the ornament is securely retained on the glove finger and to provide a secure retention mechanism to prevent the ornament from falling off the glove if the wearer accidentally bumps the glove and ornament against a surface such as a structure, vehicle, etc. or placing the wearer's hand in a coat or pant pocket.
The Boyd Patent is a variation by having various members slide onto the hand or on a glove with different information such as numbers or letters to be used as a teaching tool.
The Strongwater Patent discloses a glove with means for removably securing accessories. The abstract reads as follows:                “A glove adapted to have releasably secured thereto an ornamental accessory. There is provided fastener means having a pair of complementary fastener portions adapted to be selectively engagable or disengagable for securing or releasing said fastener portion, respectively. One of said fastener portions is secured to the inside of said glove and the other of said fastener portions is adapted to be secured to said ornamental accessory. In this way any selected one of a plurality of ornamental accessories provided with said other of said fastener portions is adapted to be releasably secured to the glove to form a glove and accessory combination which simulates a glove having an accessory permanently secured thereto by stitching.”        
Here the ornament is a snap fastener as shown on the body of the glove as shown in FIG. 1 and this is what the limitation is in the claims but it is a variation to show a different way of placing ornaments on a glove. In addition, because the female snap fastener is within the glove, it is less secure than having the mating snap fastener resting above the glove which is a far more secure method to retain an ornament and prevent it from falling off if the ornament is bumped against a surface or a person places the glove in a pant or pocket where the ornament can be pulled off if it is simply in the snap fastener method as shown in Strongwater where the female is embedded within the glove and not extending above the surface of the glove.
The Kellin Patent discloses stretchable articles of apparel with detachable decorative elements. The patent discloses:                “An article of apparel having one or more detachable decorative elements replaceably coupled thereto, the article of apparel having substantially all exposed cloth surfaces made of a stretchable material having a multiplicity of loop elements, the detachable decorative elements having a multiplicity of hook elements engaging the loop elements of the material.”        
Claim 1 reads as follows:                “In combination, an article of clothing and at least one detachable decorative element, said article of clothing having substantially all exposed cloth surfaces made of a flexible material having a multiplicity of loop elements, said detachable decorative elements having a multiplicity of hook elements engaging said loop elements of said article of clothing for random positioning of said at least one detachable decorative element anywhere on said article of clothing.”        
Essentially this discloses different elements affixed to different locations on garments but does not specifically claim gloves.
The Corder Patent discloses promotional items having decorative emblem and method of making same. The patent discloses having a mounting mechanism which is attachably affixed to the glove primarily on the back of the hand but not on the fingers. Claim 1 of the patent reads as follows:                “A glove bearing a decorative emblem, said glove comprising:                    a glove;            a mount having a recessed portion formed therein, said mount being attached to said glove; and            a decorative emblem including an emblem printed on a substrate having a top surface and a rear surface, said decorative emblem being coated with a polymer coating on said top surface and coated with an adhesive on said rear surface, said polymer coating protecting said decorative emblem from water damage and scratching said decorative emblem being positioned in said recessed portion of said mount, whereby said glove bears a decorative emblem which is durable and capable of withstanding harsh weather conditions.”                        
The Gait Published Patent Application discloses gloves with interchangeable padding.
The Sacco Published Patent Application discloses a glove having an attached item of jewelry. The drawings are almost impossible to see. The abstract of the patent application reads as follows:                “A glove having a hand portion defining a top side opposite a wearer's palm and a bottom side covering a wearer's palm and a plurality of fingers defining a top side covering the surface opposite the gripping surface of a wearer's fingers and bottom side covering the gripping surface of a wearer's fingers, defining a lower portion adjacent the wearer's wrist and also defining a slit in the lower portion of the glove to allow a wearer to insert the wearer's hand into the glove, the glove further having at least one element of style selected from a group consisting of a bow attached to a top side of a lower portion of the glove, a bracelet attached to opposite sides of the slit such that slit may be opened to accommodate the wearer's hand without removal of the bracelet and a ring attached a topside of a finger of the glove but does not extend to the bottom side of the finger of the glove such that it will not interfere with the wearer's grip.”        
Here the decorative element is attached to the back of the hand portion or the portion that goes to a person's wrist.
The Davis Patent discloses a glove with an attachable doll. The relevant portion is found in Column 2 Lines 53 through 60 which state:                “The glove can be coupled to the doll using different types of couplers. Example couplings include stitching, magnets, straps, hook-and-loop fasteners, or other types of couplings that allow for a user to directly attach the doll appendages to the exterior surface of the glove and allow for easier detachment. In some embodiments, reusable adhesives can also be used. a coupling that allows a user to separate the glove from the doll.”        
Claim 1 reads as follows:                “An article of manufacture for use with a human hand, comprising: a glove having a hand-receiving cavity from which extends at least one finger-receiving cavity; and a doll having a body and a plurality of independently moveable appendages, the doll physically distinct from and disposed externally to the glove; and wherein at least some of the appendages have a connecting mechanism to removeably and directly attach to an exterior surface of the glove and where the body lacks a connecting mechanism to directly attach to the exterior surface of the glove.”        
The Goldberg Published Patent Application It discloses a golf accessory accenting system. Specifically, the patent application discloses:                “A golf accessory accenting system utilizes one or more accent groups to coordinate golf accessories with a user's outfit. Each accent group include a plurality of replaceable accent pieces that may be coordinated for use on or with one or more golf accessory, including a golf hat (such as a golf visor or a baseball cap), a golf glove, a belt, golf shoes, a golf bag, a golf towel, one or more equipment storage bags, and the like, to accent, customize and coordinate a golfer's outfit and full ensemble based on color, pattern, style, texture, or the like. Accent pieces may be swatches, strips or bands of ribbon or fabric cut and sized to be added to a golf accessory as an accent of color, style or texture, and removably fastened thereto by means of fasteners so that they can be easily removed, replaced, and mixed-and-matched as desired.”        
The Heard UK Patent discloses the following:                “The object of this invention is to provide a simple and effective method of attaching decorative ornaments to the exterior of the glove so as to produce a novel design which will be most effective in appearance.        According to this invention, decorative pieces of leather, suede, fabric or the like are cut or formed to the required shape so as to represent a flower, leaf, rosette or the like. This flower, leaf, rosette or the like is preferably formed of material similar to the glove to which it is to be attached but of a lighter or darker color, or for use on suede gloves, soft kid or the like may be employed or vice versa. The flower, leaf, rosette or the like is attached to the glove by means of one or more suitable clips, preferably of the snap button type, the outer button portion of which serves as part of the decorative ornament, such as the flower centre, whilst the inner portion passes through the flower, leaf, rosette or the like and engages in the button so as to readily secure the whole in position.”        
The Hayakawa Japanese Patent discloses a glove. The English abstract states:                “PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain gloves that match the worn dress and are adorned with artificial flowers, ribbons, etc., depending on choice of the person who wears the gloves, and can be simply put on without much trouble.        SOLUTION: This type of gloves comprises one of paired surface fasteners which is fixed on the outside surface of a cloth 3 of a glove that comes in contact with the back of the hand when worn on the hand, and the other paired hook and loop fasteners 5b fixed on the back faces of accessories 2a, 2b formed of artificial flowers, ribbons, etc., so as to be detachably fitted to the outside surface of the cloth 3 by attaching the fasteners 5b to the paired fastener 5a. If the glove 1 does not match the dress, the accessories 2a, 2b on the glove can be simply removed by pulling the accessories 2a, 2b off the cloth 3 of the glove without taking the glove off, and replaced with other accessories because the accessories 2a, 2b are simply fixed with hook and loop fasteners 5a, 5b only.”        
As discussed, the prior art essentially has retention mechanisms that are not strong and that enable the ornament to be easily knocked off.
There is a significant need for an improved mechanism by which an ornament is retained onto one or more finger sections of a glove to provide a secure retention mechanism as well as provide ornamental beauty and enhancement to the glove.